Bob Pompeani

There's another little nugget for you, Bob.

And as limits said, if they want to become eligible for that draft pick, which could be between 26 and 32, they have to recall Griffin by April 9th.

And then he has to win rookie of the year.

Both those things have to happen for them to get that pick.

Okay.

So that's where we stand right now.

They went 0-2 on Skeens.

They called him up later.

They made themselves ineligible for that.

And then they watched him win Rookie of the Year.

So that meant he gained a full year of service.

So they lost a year of service on Skeens because he won rookie of the year, and they brought him up so late that they didn't get a first-round pick.

No first-round pick.

So back to Griffin.

Yes, the pick that they could get ranges from 26 to 32.

Then he goes into how he struggled finishing two for 18 with eight strikeouts, only two walks in all of the spring, and how he could use more development time.

Now, here's the key.

I asked limits.

All right, so what exactly is the financial motivation here for the Pirates to keep him down?

Bob, they could hold him down in the minors long enough to deny him an extra year of arbitration.